Armed soldiers in the streets of Qalandiya
People there recommended we hurry up with our coffee because at 5:15 p.m.it begins. They were right. Just a bit after five o’clock it really began.
The army came out of the checkpoint compound, soldiers and Border Policemen and women filled both the public and the private space, armed men in uniforms took over rooftops of residences and businesses, and blocked all entrances to the refugee camp with their bodies and weapons, sowing fear and terror in everyone.
“Has the riot started?” asked a Border Policewoman who arrived, eager at the chance of action and gunfire and arrests and a bit anxious about having missed the main part.
No. Neither she nor anyone else has missed a thing. Nor the riot, for it is precisely these armed forces that bring on the ‘riots’, not the Palestinians. Certainly not the Palestinians who fear to get out of the shops and into dangerous public space during these hours, or parents and children who stay put behind doors and walls inside the homes although at the same time armed strangers are pacing around on their porches and roofs.
For it is a great risk for any man and woman, any child and elderly person – the risk of rifles and grenades and arrests, and the unknown fate awaiting today and tomorrow just as it has yesterday and for all the yesterdays before that.
“התחיל כבר ההפס”ד?” שאלה שוטרת מג”ב שהגיעה למקום נלהבת מסיכוי לפעילות וירי ומעצרים וקצת חרדה מהחשש שהחמיצה את העיקר.
לא היא ולא אחרות ואחרים לא הפסידו דבר, גם לא את ההפס”ד, כי את ההפס”ד, את הפרות הסדר, הם שמביאים על המקום ולא הפלסטינים, בטח לא הפלסטינים שחוששים לצאת מהחנויות אל המרחב הציבורי המסוכן בשעות שכאלו, או הורים וילדים שמתבצרים מאחורי דלתות וקירות בבתים פנימה על אף שבאותו הזמן זרים חמושים מהלכים על מרפסות וגגות בתיהם.
כי סכנה גדולה היא לכל איש ואישה, לכל ילד וזקן, סכנת רובים ורימונים ומעצרים וגורל לא ידוע להיום ולמחר כשם שהיה לאתמול ולאתמולים שלפניו.
Qalandiya Checkpoint / Atarot Pass (Jerusalem)
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Click here to watch a video from Qalandiya checkpoint up to mid 2019 Three kilometers south of Ramallah, in the heart of Palestinian population. Integrates into "Jerusalem Envelope" as part of Wall that separates between northern suburbs that were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967: Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya, and the villages of Ar-Ram and Bir Nabala, also north of Jerusalem, and the city itself. Some residents of Kafr Aqab, Semiramis and Qalandiya have Jerusalem ID cards. A terminal operated by Israel Police has functioned since early 2006. As of August 2006, northbound pedestrians are not checked. Southbound Palestinians must carry Jerusalem IDs; holders of Palestinian Authority IDs cannot pass without special permits. Vehicular traffic from Ramallah to other West Bank areas runs to the north of Qalandiya. In February 2019, the new facility of the checkpoint was inaugurated aiming to make it like a "border crossing". The bars and barbed wire fences were replaced with walls of perforated metal panels. The check is now performed at multiple stations for face recognition and the transfer of an e-card. The rate of passage has improved and its density has generally decreased, but lack of manpower and malfunctions cause periods of stress. The development and paving of the roads has not yet been completed, the traffic of cars and pedestrians is dangerous, and t the entire vicinity of the checkpoint is filthy. In 2020 a huge pedestrian bridge was built over the vehicle crossing with severe mobility restrictions (steep stairs, long and winding route). The pedestrian access from public transport to the checkpoint from the north (Ramallah direction) is unclear, and there have been cases of people, especially people with disabilities, who accidentally reached the vehicle crossing and were shot by the soldiers at the checkpoint. In the summer of 2021, work began on a new, sunken entrance road from Qalandiya that will lead directly to Road 443 towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. At the same time, the runways of the old Atarot airport were demolished and infrastructure was prepared for a large bus terminal. (updated October 2021)
Tamar FleishmanFeb-27-2026Qalandiya: On the way to prayer
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